Living the Stereotype
by The Legend of Rune Factory
Summary: One Link, the Hero of Twilight, wonders if Hyrule will ever go farther than it is now. Another Link in another time ponders on the reason why everything feels so familiar to him, as if he's done it a thousand times before. Minor Spirit Tracks spoilers.


**This was inspired by "The Legend of Zelda" by David Arkenstone (good song, by the way). WARNING: In case you ignored/didn't see in the summary, THERE ARE MINOR SPOILERS FOR SPIRIT TRACKS HEREIN. YOU HAVE BEEN FOREWARNED. Disclaimer: Do I look like Shigeru Miyamoto to you? No? Well then, that means I own nothing. **

* * *

It didn't take Link long to figure out how his life would play out. All he had to do was look in the library of the castle.

He approached Zelda on the seemingly normal day, with Ganondorf gone and the monsters kept under control. The citizens of Hyrule were going about their daily lives, farming, living, selling various wares, or even cheating others out of deals (provided they wanted a one-way trip to the castle dungeons). The Goddesses were content with the country, as they did nothing to shatter the typicality of it all.

Link carried a thick volume in his hand. "So, when were you going to tell me?"

"Tell you what?" Zelda looked at him critically, her violet-blue eyes darkening faintly as she knew exactly what he was talking about.

"About our lives. You know it all. You know how it's supposed to go, and what happens. You know."

She sighed. "Yes, I do. Link, studying up on the history of this country will do you no good. We're stuck. The Goddesses keep us stuck."

He flipped through the book, scanning the pages. "There's nothing in the past of Hyrule except war after war. The Hero of Time -or whatever he's called then- comes to rescue everyone and then serves his country until he dies. It's been that way for centuries!"

"I know."

"And there's nothing for us to do except follow this?! Zelda, you're going to let our descendants live the stereotype! They're going to be just like you and I."

She chuckled in slight amusement. "That's where you're wrong. My descendants will all be royalty until the next Princess Zelda is bestowed the Triforce of Wisdom, and she does a poor job ruling like I began. Your descendants will… Well, you won't have any that will save Hyrule."

"What?"

"Link, you didn't read that very well. No one knows who the Hero's ancestors are. His parents die and he is raised by a calm little community. The only ones that are recurring that are related are the many Princesses." She sighed again. "I'm sorry, but we are forced to live the stereotype that the Goddesses have laid before us. We are powerless to stop it."

"And you're perfectly ok with this?!" He very nearly shouted at her.

"Yes. I am."

He stared at her a moment more before going back to the library. Placing the tome on a table, he went to find more books on the history of Hyrule.

After reading for hours, he came up with the answer. Forever, no matter what happened, Hyrule would never go any farther. The most advanced technology they had were bombs, cannons, and simple waterwheels. A country couldn't live long with just that. Yet, Hyrule had somehow prevailed.

He pulled out his various gadgets from his travels. The spring-loaded double clawshot was somewhat advanced, but not good enough for him. The potions in the bottles were the harvest from chus or the fairy's tears, and not at all what Hylians had thought up themselves.

As for what the princess had told him… He wondered if it was really true. That, all her ancestors had either fought alongside or waited for the Hero to save them and Hyrule. That the country was doomed to an infinite epoch of war, and strife, and terror, and…Ganondorf.

Then he wondered why Ganondorf had never died. Why he had managed to live all those thousands of years. _Of course,_ he figured, _Ganondorf was either in the Sacred Realm or in the Twilight, for punishment._ So even the Great King of Evil was doomed to repetition.

Link slowly placed all the books on their respective shelves, knowing that he was doomed to the stereotype. No matter what he did, said, or even tried to do, he would die and somehow be reincarnated into another Hero…in another time…in another Hyrule…with another Princess Zelda…with the same Ganondorf…to save everyone.

* * *

In another time, in a different land of Hyrule, a much different Link was riding his train around the countryside. Wearing the recruit's uniform, he was looking fondly at the hat in his hands, almost as if he had worn it a thousand times before.

Of course, he had only gotten the outfit when Zelda gave it to him not too long ago. The familiarity of the uniform scared him at first, but then he got over it.

Now he was thinking about the train tracks he rode on. Princess Zelda was next to him, no longer in her spirit form, but just along for the ride. The wind played with her long blonde hair. "Princess?"

She turned to him, a smile on her face. "Please, Link. Just call me Zelda."

"All right… Zelda?"

"Yes?"

"Why does Hyrule have the train tracks?"

She gasped, unbelieving of what he just said. "Link! We went on a whole adventure about this, and you still don't know?!"

"No, I know _why_ the Spirit Tracks are there, it's just that… Why does Hyrule have something like trains, and yet we don't have anything…more?"

"More? What do you mean by _more_? What _more_ do you want?"

"I don't know, just…more."

"Link, I don't understand you sometimes." She sighed, shaking her head.

He shrugged and turned his attention back to driving. Then he said, "Zelda, when I play the Spirit Flute, I feel like I should be playing a different instrument instead."

"Like what? The cello? A viola, perhaps?" She giggled softly to herself as she attempted to picture him playing something much taller than he was himself.

"No, like…an ocarina."

Zelda stared at him, one eyebrow raised. "Link, what's up? You've been asking me all sorts of weird questions lately!"

"I don't know, I just feel like I've done all this before!"

"In a way, I guess you have."

"What?"

The princess explained to him what (coincidentally) the other Link had discovered. He was aghast. "So…this is all planned out? As in, we have to do it?"

She nodded. "Yes. Ever since the first time-" she raised her hands to make quotations "-'Ganondorf', or Ganon in some cases, appeared, there's been a princess in trouble and a Hero to save them. All ironically named Link and Zelda."

"So that's what Niko was telling me about…" Link mused.

"Huh? That old pirate guy who knew my great-something grandma Tetra?"

"Yeah, he's my roommate. He was telling me about Ganondorf once, and about how much I looked like a friend of his from his youth."

"That must have been the Hero of Winds."

"Must have."

They were both silent the remainder of the trip. As Link pulled into the Castle Town station to let the princess off, he asked quietly, "Zelda?"

She turned around to him. "Yes, Link?"

"Will it ever change? Will Hyrule ever be at peace?"

"I doubt it. I guess we'll just be forced to live the stereotype…forever." She shook her head. "But I guess it's for the best. I mean, at least we're happy, right?"

He smiled. "Heh. Sure. Riding around is kinda fun... But it is weird knowing that you've done something like that before."

"Which is exactly why I ignore the feeling. And you should too, Link."

"Right... Well, see you later, Princess."

As he was pulling out of the Castle Town station, he heard her yell, "It's Zelda!" He grinned to himself and yanked the rope that lead to the horn, blasting it twice.


End file.
